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Absolutely Revolting

June–July 2014, no. 362

Edward Snowden and the NSA – there has been no more riveting or consequential story in recent years. Much of the coverage has been reflexive and tendentious. In the June–July issue of ABR, James Der Derian reviews four books on the subject, including Luke Harding and Glenn Greenwald’s accounts of Snowden’s defection. Also, Neal Blewett reviews Bob Carr’s controversial diaries, and adds a twist of his own. Other contributors include Sheila Fitzpatrick, Bill Gammage, Jennifer Maiden, Richard Toye – and ABR Roving Blogger Fiona Gruber.

Margaret Robson Kett reviews Pandora Jones: Admission by Barry Jonsberg and Crooked leg road by Jennifer Walsh
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Contents Category: Children's and Young Adult Fiction
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Where is the pleasure in reading a book as part of a series? A long acquaintance with known and trusted characters rewards the reader with the chance to share their growth and development through multiple challenges and adversities. For teenage readers, following protagonists their own age on this journey has particular rewards. All this, and cliffhangers, too.

Barry Jonsberg’s latest novel, Pandora Jones: Admission, is the first in a series. Jonsberg is a versatile and assured writer. His gift with character is the portrayal of young people who narrate their lives with humour and self-assurance. Dreamrider (2006) was a departure for him, depicting a character who was in psychological torment from dreams, which may or may not have been real.
Book 1 Title: Pandora Jones
Book 1 Subtitle: Admission
Book Author: Barry Jonsberg
Book 1 Biblio: Allen & Unwin, $17.99 pb, 304 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Author
Book 2 Title: Crooked leg road
Book 2 Author: Jennifer Walsh
Book 2 Biblio: Allen & Unwin, $14.99 pb, 208 pp
Book 2 Author Type: Author
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Book 2 Cover Path (no longer required): /images/stories/issues/362_July-August_2014/Crooked%20Leg%20Road%20large.jpg
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Where is the pleasure in reading a book as part of a series? A long acquaintance with known and trusted characters rewards the reader with the chance to share their growth and development through multiple challenges and adversities. For teenage readers, following protagonists their own age on this journey has particular rewards. All this, and cliffhangers, too.

Barry Jonsberg’s latest novel, Pandora Jones: Admission, is the first in a series. Jonsberg is a versatile and assured writer. His gift with character is the portrayal of young people who narrate their lives with humour and self-assurance. Dreamrider (2006) was a departure for him, depicting a character who was in psychological torment from dreams, which may or may not have been real.

Read more: Margaret Robson Kett reviews 'Pandora Jones: Admission' by Barry Jonsberg and 'Crooked leg road'...

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Peter Kenneally reviews Cordite Poetry Review, issue 46 edited by Kent MacCarter
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The latest edition of this exclusively online poetry journal has no theme, but Cordite’s managing editor, Kent MacCarter, makes a virtue of its lack of subject. He builds the edition around a chapbook he has collated that is called ‘Spoon bending’, arguing around and against the proposition that ‘There’s no such thing as a good poem about nothing’, and opening with a splendidly effervescent argument in favour of hybridisation and play in poetry.
Book 1 Title: Cordite Poetry Review
Book 1 Subtitle: Issue 46.0
Book Author: Kent MacCarter
Book 1 Biblio: Cordite Press Inc. Free online journal, published quarterly p.a.
Book 1 Author Type: Editor
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The latest edition of this exclusively online poetry journal has no theme, but Cordite’s managing editor, Kent MacCarter, makes a virtue of its lack of subject. He builds the edition around a chapbook he has collated that is called ‘Spoon bending’, arguing around and against the proposition that ‘There’s no such thing as a good poem about nothing’, and opening with a splendidly effervescent argument in favour of hybridisation and play in poetry.

Read more: Peter Kenneally reviews 'Cordite Poetry Review', issue 46 edited by Kent MacCarter

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Des Cowley reviews Australian Poetry Journal, vol. 3 no. 2 edited by Bronwyn Lea
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My first encounter with concrete poetry came via Apollinaire’s Calligrammes (1918), specifically his eye-catching poem ‘Il Pleut’. With its gently cascading words falling down the page, it was immediately clear that the typographic arrangement of the poem was of far greater import than its semantic content.

Although the term was not coined until the 1950s, concrete poetry draws upon traditions as diverse as ancient Greek shaped poems, Lewis Carroll’s ‘The Mouse’s Tale’, and the typographic experiments found in early twentieth-century Dada and Futurist publications. Despite this, concrete poetry has historically fallen between the cracks of various critical discourses. Is it art or is it poetry?
Book 1 Title: Australian Poetry Journal
Book 1 Subtitle: Vol. 3, No. 2
Book Author: Bronwyn Lea
Book 1 Biblio: Australian Poetry, $25 pb, 90 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Editor
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My first encounter with concrete poetry came via Apollinaire’s Calligrammes (1918), specifically his eye-catching poem ‘Il Pleut’. With its gently cascading words falling down the page, it was immediately clear that the typographic arrangement of the poem was of far greater import than its semantic content.

Although the term was not coined until the 1950s, concrete poetry draws upon traditions as diverse as ancient Greek shaped poems, Lewis Carroll’s ‘The Mouse’s Tale’, and the typographic experiments found in early twentieth-century Dada and Futurist publications. Despite this, concrete poetry has historically fallen between the cracks of various critical discourses. Is it art or is it poetry?

Read more: Des Cowley reviews 'Australian Poetry Journal', vol. 3 no. 2 edited by Bronwyn Lea

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Jay Daniel Thompson reviews Transnational Literature, vol. 6 no. 2 edited by Gillian Dooley
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Transnational Literature is an online, open-access journal that is published by Flinders University. The May 2014 edition certainly lives up to the title. This edition provides an overview of literary texts and theories from across the world.

The academic contributions explore a diverse range of topics. These include the work of Marion Halligan, literary representations of Islam and the veil, and the notion of ‘home’ as this is invoked in Shani Mootoo’s novel Cereus Blooms at Night (1996). There is a review essay on a selection of books dedicated to the theme of ‘world literature’, plus the paper delivered by Satendra Nandan at the December 2013 launch of Rosie Scott and Tom Keneally’s edited collection A Country Too Far (the latter is reviewed in this edition). Readers will also find poems, short stories and life narratives.
Book 1 Title: Transnational Literature
Book 1 Subtitle: Vol. 6, No. 2
Book Author: Gillian Dooley
Book 1 Biblio: Flinders Institute for Research in the Humanities Free online journal, published twice p.a., ISSN 18364845
Book 1 Author Type: Author
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Transnational Literature is an online, open-access journal that is published by Flinders University. The May 2014 edition certainly lives up to the title. This edition provides an overview of literary texts and theories from across the world.

The academic contributions explore a diverse range of topics. These include the work of Marion Halligan, literary representations of Islam and the veil, and the notion of ‘home’ as this is invoked in Shani Mootoo’s novel Cereus Blooms at Night (1996). There is a review essay on a selection of books dedicated to the theme of ‘world literature’, plus the paper delivered by Satendra Nandan at the December 2013 launch of Rosie Scott and Tom Keneally’s edited collection A Country Too Far (the latter is reviewed in this edition). Readers will also find poems, short stories and life narratives.

Read more: Jay Daniel Thompson reviews 'Transnational Literature', vol. 6 no. 2 edited by Gillian Dooley

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Francesca Sasnaitis reviews Murder in the Telephone Exchange by June Wright
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Who killed Sarah Compton? She was a ‘prying old busybody’, but surely that isn’t an adequate motive for murder? When her grisly corpse is found on the restroom floor of the Melbourne Telephone Exchange, there is no lack of suspects. Could Gerda MacIntyre, the girl with the ‘tragic eyes’, be capable of such a heinous crime? What is silly, pretty Gloria Patterson hiding? Is the attractive John Clarkson too good to be true? Will Detective- Sergeant Matheson prove to be the better man? And will our plucky heroine Margaret ‘Maggie’ Byrnes uncover the murderer before he, or she, strikes again?
Book 1 Title: Murder in the Telephone Exchange
Book Author: June Wright
Book 1 Biblio: Dark Passage, $24.95 pb, 329 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Author
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Who killed Sarah Compton? She was a ‘prying old busybody’, but surely that isn’t an adequate motive for murder? When her grisly corpse is found on the restroom floor of the Melbourne Telephone Exchange, there is no lack of suspects. Could Gerda MacIntyre, the girl with the ‘tragic eyes’, be capable of such a heinous crime? What is silly, pretty Gloria Patterson hiding? Is the attractive John Clarkson too good to be true? Will Detective- Sergeant Matheson prove to be the better man? And will our plucky heroine Margaret ‘Maggie’ Byrnes uncover the murderer before he, or she, strikes again?

Read more: Francesca Sasnaitis reviews 'Murder in the Telephone Exchange' by June Wright

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